Eight mini grants awarded

XENIA — The Board of the Greene Community Health Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2017 Mini Grants.

Each year and dependent upon funds available, the foundation offers five to ten mini grants up to $1,000 each for programs that focus on the following strategies developed to improve overall population: health, youth involvement, promotion of healthy lifestyles, addressing a current public health issue, providing crucial information to allow individuals to practice disease prevention, showcasing the resources for and providers of grassroots health care and information, gaining additional support for the ongoing efforts to improve health year-round and increasing the opportunity to collaborate with other Greene County resources.

A total of eight grants are being awarded in the amount of $7,417. Recipients for 2017 include:

• Xenia YMCA, Alan Milkis, $1,000 – this program provides a free 12-week healthy lifestyles program for cancer survivors (in or out of treatment).

• The Riding Centre, Cindy Minton-Piatt, $1,000 – this program offers a therapeutic horseback riding program for children and youth with physical, developmental and emotional disabilities.

• Miami Valley Juvenile Rehabilitation Program, Joshua Bedink, $767 – this gardening program teaches at-risk youth from low income families to garden, grow, and give back to their community as additional vegetables are donated to a local food pantry.

• Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Family Resource Center, Susan Lopez, $1,000 – this program provides families living in poverty who come through the food pantry to receive healthy food information and “taste” various recipes.

• Fairborn Parks Foundation, Donna Wilson, $1,000 – this program teaches families in poverty about healthy eating and how to grow their own food in limited available spaces (buckets, small containers, cinder blocks, etc.).

For more information on the Mini Grant program through the Greene Community Health Foundation, call 937-374-5615 or email rfosnaugh@gcph.info.